Primary battery.



o. ELMpis. PRIMARY BATTE-RY.

APPLlCTlON FILED OCT- 3, 1914.

atened May 4g 1915.

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'masses DVEREIIX ELvES, O ORANE, NEW JERSEY-,HASSGNOR T0 NEW JERSEY PATENT CQMPANY, QF 'WEST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATON 0F NEW JERSEY.

ramena BATTERY. l

Tor/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that l'l)nvnnsox. ELMES, acitizen of the United States, and a. residentv tion.

My invention relates to primary batteries, being in some aspects an improvementon the invention disclosed in Patent No.

1,061,541, dated May 13," i913, and granted to E. E.' Hudson and myself, and the principal object thereof` is to provide an improved electrode plate -for such batteries so con` structed as to give indication at any time y oi the approximate amount oi energy that hasjbeen expended and the amount of energy still available, as Well as to give indication of the approaching exhaustion of the plate.

@ther features of my invefntion Willvbe hereinafter' more fully described and claimed.

.My invention relates particularly to-pri mary batteries of that class" in which the negative electrode consists of a plate or plates of oxid of copper or other depolarizing agent and the positive electrode consists oi" a plate or plates of zinc. ln batteries of this character, the pdsitive plates Wear away quite evenly during the eleotrolytic action.

The patent referred to above describes a positive plate vtermed with a smal-l depres sion or small depressions of equal depth on the side thereof` farthest away from the neg ative plate with which it coacts in the battery. Peiiorations in the positive plate due to the consumption thereof will obviously vfirst appear in the depressed portion or portions oi the plate, thereby indicating the `appreaching exhaustion of the plate and that the same Will have to be renewed shortly. "i have found that by providing a battery with a positive plate formed with a plurality or" such depressions of different depths to `thereby provide Vthe plate with a plurality' of reduced portions of different thicknesses, 1t is possible to obtain 'at any time a fairly accurate indication of the residual capacity et the battery. lt is obvious that this plate will rst become perforated Where its thickness is the least, viz: at the depression having the greatest depth, and that with the Specification of Letters Patent.

rasantes nay i, isis.

.application filed October 3, 1914. Serial No. 884,786.

depressions in the order of their depth.v By

making each depression of such a depth'that in a given battery the plate will become perforated thereat after a certain predetermined amount of energy has been expended, an in dication of' the approximate amount of enorgy expended' and that still available will be obtained; and I preferably make the des pressions of such depths that the plate will become perforated thereat after the expenditure of 100, 200, 30D and 40() ampere hours respectively. The depressions are preferably surrounded by raised annular flanges or rims .to enablethe observer to quickly and readily locatethe .depressions and to oii'set the increased wearingaiyay of the plate 'at the dgesof the depressions by the action o the electrolyte. y

In order that my invention may be more Iclearly understood, attention is hereby directe to the'accompanying drawing' fornr ing part of this specification and in which Figure l represents a side elevation of a positive` electrode plate constructed in accoi-dance with my inventionyand Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same on line 2-2 of Fi. 1. v eferring to the drawinggthe positive electrode plate A is providedv preferably on the side farthest away from thenegative plate with which it coacts iii/lien assembled in abattery, with a number of depressions l, 2, 3 and l of different depth, which are prel`- erably circular and concave. These A:depressions are preferably provided in thel panels formed by the horizontal and vertical ribs 5 and` 6 and the flanges 8 with Which the plate is preferably provided onothe lside nearest to the negative plate with which it coacts when assembled in a battery. Each of the depressionsuis surrounded by an ann nular rim o' flange 7 lt is evident that in use, the plate A will first become perforated at the reduced 'portion of least thicknesst or at depression 1,'then at the reduced portionl formed by depression 2, then at the reduced to he understood that this embodiment is subject to variousl changes and modifications without any departure from the spirit of the invention. l

leansother than that described herein may be employed to locate the depressions. My invention is also not limited to batteries el' the class hereinbetore described, but is applicable to any batteries using plates which wear away more or less evenly under the action of the electrolyte.

Having' now described my invention, what l claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent isas follows l. ln a pri ia ry battery, an electrode plate having) a plurality of reduced portions of ditl'erent thickness to indicate the extent et energy expenditure bythe appearance of lwrliorations in said reduced portions during the eonsumptimi ol the plate, substantially as described.

s a new article ot manufacture, an electrode plate for a voltaic battery having means t'or visually indicating the extent of energy expenditure and the quantity of energy still available.` comprising a. plurality ot' depressions et diiferent depth, substantially as described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, an .electr-ede plate. for a voltaic battery having means lior visuallyr indicatii'if.;- the extent oith energy expenditl' e and the quantity of energy still available` comprising' a plurality oi depressions oit dilferent depth and means for indicating the location of said depressions, substantially as described.

l. In a. yprimary battery, a positive electrode plate havinso)` a plurality ot depressions ot' ditl'erent depth on the side farthest away from Jthe negative element with which it coacts,'tl'1e plate being thereby formed with a plurality of reduced portions of diterent ci thickness, whereby the extent of energy' eX- penditure will be indicated by the appearance of perlorations through said reduced portions, substantiallyns described.

5. .is a new article ot manufacture, an electrode plate for a voltaie battery havingv means For visually7 indicating the extent ot energy expenditure and the lpiantity oi energy still available, `comprising,Y a plurality ot depressions ol different depth, and raised rims surrounding said depressions, substantially as described.

(1, ln a primary battery. an electrode plate having' a plurality ot' reduced portions et dil'lerent thickness lo indicate the, extent ol' energy expenditure by the appearance ol perfor-ations in said reduced portions,

during the consumption ot' the plate. and

nieans for irnlicatinc1r the location ot said reduced portions. substantially as described. rlhis specification sinned and witnessed this 2nd day of Getober lOl l.

DEVEREUX lCLilES.

Witnesses ll'iLLL-xn A. linnny, Manx J. L.\1nL.\w. 

